Watching Super Bowl 50 and thinking how the first 2 of the 50th reunion shows were at Levi Stadium/
This 2/7/69 is very far removed from either event.
The half-time music and show look comic as I listen to the Dead tearing up William Tell.
Dead just lighting up the Stanley and this most certainly has a Live Dead feel to it.
What a freak show on my T.V. and I wish I meant that in some kind of positive constructive way.
Although the brief montage of musical guests from previous half-times was pretty cool.
Don't know who the sister in black is but they got her so strapped in-NO WARDROBE MALFUNCTIONS!
The DEAD are blazing and peak at The Eleven.
Dang they just had Carlos Santana on T.V.
do like a 10 second jam before 2nd half kick-off.
(I could have gone for 10 minutes of Black Magic Woman at half-Time)
The LOVELIGHT is double time and in a hurry!
This show is great and Second show is better!!!

A stirring Dark Star begins a rickety, muffled, old, creaky-but-beautiful '69 set; there is a cut in Lovelight but this overall journey is definitely one for the books. I think this show probably would have more accolades if both shows were linked to one page on the archive - check out the 'late show' page as well!

another outrageous one!

yes a loss of power makes a lot more sense. tricks of the mind.

anyways, like i've said before, this and especially the late show are some best and most underrated performances of the year. The Eleven>Lovelight is the extra tasty portion of this early show.

Clementine - it sounds to me as if they lost the electricity on the stage. And I can't tell what Phil is yelling.

WOW!!! Great show..love the 60's shows.If any one could help with a copy of this show and the second please email me g_ross01@yahoo.com.thanks and peace!!!

The opening act was the Velvet Underground (who were great!), followed by the Fugs (who were great!). Paul Krassner was the MC. The light show was overly repetitious. I still can hear because someone near me brought extra cotton balls. The Dead came on last, and, due to our youth (I went with my best friend, and we were both "only' 14), we had to leave before the Dead were finished.

Thank you, whoever recorded this and made it available via the Internet!

I met the Dead and the AIRPLANE among others when going to juniour high in Boston. I worked for a folk music mag outta Cambridge called BROADSIDE. I still have copies of that mag! They co-produced a big music fest at Boston University in 1967 and brought in a bunch of San Francisco, etc hippie bands so I met a bunch at once.
When the Dead played the STANLEY THEATRE in dahntahn PGH some years later, I was livin' in a commune on Ellesworth Ave, near Spahr St., across from where I grew up; the DEAD performed at the Stanley(now Heinz Hall) with the AIRPLANE and the VELVET UNDERGROUND, then everyone came to the commune for a big acid party(which issa whole story in itself!). That is the period when I used to trip and walk around Shadyside nude in the daytime.
It was weird for the Velvets to b on the bill with the love bands but they WERE a sixties band, they came back with the FUGS and someone at the SYRIA MOSQUE not long after that.
As far as I remember, Lou only smoked weed and argued with the hippies but I think he enjoyed himself(I think it was all an act!). Jerry and Pigpen sat up on the 3rd floor and played nothing but solid blues songs! U may be suprised to know that Pig was actually a pretty good guitar player!
O yea Lou told Jerry something like: u fuckin paisleyassedflowerpickers couldn't stand a week of Chelsea!

Anyway, Pig Penn had an aunt living out in Wilkinsburg. The next day Pig Pen found her in the phonebook, and he and I took a cab to Wilkinsburg were I met his aunt.

This is an amazing performance, I'm surprised that it's getting so little attention! This show easily holds it own with the block-buster nights a couple weeks later. The Dark Star is intense and brooding, quite like the Live Dead version from 2/27. Second set jams are superlative!

Just about the best one I've ever heard. Ditto the late show which "begins" with Cryptical Envelopment.

Dark star truly continuing to take a new shape over 1968 DS. Good sound quality.

When the Grateful Dead start a show with Dark Star, you know they mean business. This version is fairly short, but pretty, well played and serves as an appetizer for the rest of the show, which is just amazing classic 69 Dead all the way.
I can't believe I'm raving about yet another Feb 69 show, but it deserves it. Since the end of the month has been, shall we say, disappeared - I can't urge you enough to get this show, the 2 Electric Theater shows, and the 2 Dream Bowl shows. If you weren't lucky enough to procure the 2/27-3/2 run, well then these other Feb shows will almost make up for it.
And just for future reference, here's my Top 5 shows for 1969, two of which I sadly can't rave about because they're not listed now.
2/28/69
3/1/69
4/5/69
4/21/69 and
12/30/69.
These set the standard for me from which to evaluate other 69 shows. This show can't approach those, but a very solid show. The St. Stephen is tight and energetic, and the Eleven just jumps and wails at a breakneck speed. Phil and the drummers tear the roof off the sucka, and Jerry's guitar is shooting sparks.
This was a cassette master, so there is some hiss, and some loss of fidelity, but a very balanced SBD and a full satisfying sound. I'll continue this review at the late show listing.
Dr. Flashback :-)

See the late show for my full review.

Peak period.
Near peaking performances.
Pay particular attention to William Tell for a rarity. The Cryptical reprise is primal (Phil's hints at New Potato/13s?).
Get both shows.
The Alligator > Caution is one for the ages.
Very good quality (old tape hiss).
4+
Thanks Bear. Thanks Archive crew.
(also get 02.15.69)